A week with the in-laws
by Tiger'sHeart88
Summary: when Steven agreed to come to Wallace's family reunion, he assumed he would meet a sophisticated family of charm equal to Wallace's. what he didn't expect, was to spend a week in an old farm house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Wallace's incredibly large, stubborn, old fashioned farm family. Oh The things you do for love. Originshipping
1. Chapter 1

When I agreed to accompany Wallace to his family reunion, I'll admit I never gave it the consideration it deserved. Granted I was a little drunk and half asleep when he asked me, but I should have considered why Wallace had waited until that moment to ask me. It was only when we were already on the train out to his childhood home when it crossed my mind.

Wallace was painting his nails with a clear coat when I spoke up. "So, what's your family like?" I asked hoping for some expectations before I jumped into unknown territory. Though Wallace and I had known each other for a while, and we started dating about a year ago, Wallace had never mentioned his parents nor any of his family too me. All I knew was Juan took Wallace as his apprentice when he was about thirteen, other than that I'd never been informed about his actually family or his standing with any of them.

"Well," he started, obviously choosing his word carefully "they're probably not what you have in mind." Well that was a little surprising. Wallace was one of the most graceful and classy people I've ever met; I would think that his upbringing would have something to do with that. "So what are they like?" I asked slowly. He sighed lightly and capped he nail polish, returning it into his bag. "Oh come one, they can't be that bad," I laughed a little, "to have a kid like you they've gotta be pretty sophisticated." Wallace made a noise as if he were suppressing a surprised laugh.

"Oh dear." He sighed once more and took my hands in his in and overly dramatic fashion. "Darling, I have something I need to tell you, and I can't guarantee that you're going to like it." I stared at him raising an eyebrow. "I understand that you'd assume someone as classy as me would come from a similar family," he sighed, "but you see, the truth is…" he paused for dramatic effect. "I grew up on a farm." he stated and stared into my eyes.

I stared right back, dumbfounded.

"A farm?" I responded in shock.

"A farm." He said in a shameful tone gazing at me the whole time.

After about ten seconds of us just staring at each other, I burst into laughter. Wallace dropped my hands and crossed his arms in as if he were offended by my actions. To admit I did laugh a little harder than I should have and I'm surprised none of the other passengers glared my way. When I finally calmed down I was still laughing slightly

"You almost had me Wallace, a farm, come on!"

"It's true." He said still feigning hurt.

"Oh please, like you were raised on a farm."

"I was dear; you're going to be in for quite the surprise when we get there."

After a little more banter it finally began to click. The reason Wallace had asked me when I wasn't really thinking, and why this train ride was about three hours. We were going to a farm in the middle of nowhere.

"A farm, wow, I never would have guessed." I said taking a sip from my water.

"You and everyone else, Juan himself could hardly believe it." He said admiring his nails he had finished. My eyes slid over to him

"So, what was it like?"

Now Wallace wielded a fingernail file and examining his nails.

"It was your typically working farm complete with tauros, miltanks and ponyta. We grew crops and picked them ourselves, cleaned the stalls, and built just about everything by hand. It was terrible."

"You don't like farm work?" I faked surprise.

"It hated getting dirty." He explained. "It was always physical labor, and I prefer the finer things in life." He winked at me.

"So what did your family say when you decide to go for contests and Pokémon training?"

"They were accepting, enough. I suppose they assumed I would try it for a while, fall flat on my face, and evidently come back to the farm life. You can see how that turned out." He flashed me a smile.

"And they know about you being-"

"Yes, all of them practically assumed it when I said I wanted to enter Pokémon contests."

"And they're okay with it?"

"Pretty much; some more than others. None of them have really made a big deal about it, but I do feel they don't exactly know how to act around me. After all I haven't been around much."

"So they're pretty nice?"

"well-"

"Now that I mention it, who are _they_? Do you have any brothers, sisters?"

"Alright, alright." He waved his hands as if to appease me. "I'll give you the full run down, so you know what to expect. My parents' names are Judy and Clarence; they're old fashioned farm people. My father insists on building and fixing everything himself, and has never set foot out of farmland. My mom's pretty nice but she keeps trying to fix me up with every gay man she meets, I think she think's being gay is some kind of exclusive club and we all know each other or something like that." He stopped a moment and looked out the window as if to gather his thoughts. "I have three brothers and two sisters. I have an aunt and two uncles on my mom's side, and on my father's I have and aunt and an uncle." He finished and returned his eyes to me.

I was shocked, and my expression must have showed it. "Oh, it'll fine dear, they're not that bad." He put his hand on my leg in a comforting manner. I was surprised that Wallace came from such a big family. He never mentioned any of them. It must be strange, with all those people. But then again, the only family I had was my Father, so maybe I was overreacting.

"Are they all going to be there today?" I asked still recovering from my shock. "I'd assume so; we don't get together very often, so we try to make an effort to see each other when given the opportunity."

"So what are your siblings like?"

Wallace had finished filing his nails and gently grasped my hand and began his work on me.

"The oldest of us is Charlie. He's married and has a son. He's a farm boy through and through. He insists on keeping the family farm in tip top shape, and adamantly refuses any help or criticism. Then there's Damon, he's a hopeless womanizer who uses his relation to me to seduce women. Next is Tasha. She is also married and hast two twin girls; she's a country girl who's married to the sheriff in town. Then there's the magnificent me." He brought my hand to his face, kissed it softly and released it. He smiled at me in an apologetic manner, He probably felt guilty for having kept all this from me and then springing it on me last minute.

"so continuing," he continued tirelessly "then there's Tyler, who's only seventeen. He thinks of himself as the farms bouncer, or patroller. He likes to give outsiders a hard time, seeing as we hardly ever have any. But he's no real trouble, just a kid. Lastly is Rebecca she's only thirteen, still in school."

I used my newly manicured hand to support my head. "Gees, you don't think you could write all that down for me?"

"Sorry dear, but I haven't even covered the aunts and uncles or my in-laws."

"Oh boy." I muttered with a nervous feeling churning my stomach. What have I gotten myself into?


	2. Chapter 2

After a three hour drive filled with grueling anticipation, Wallace and I finally arrived at our destination. I use the term "destination" loosely, due to the fact that the station we were dropped off at appeared to be out of some bad western movie. Rust covered every surface of any metal substance to be found, the rest was covered in cobwebs and a thick layer of dust. The station was practically a ghost town, there was only a hand full of people hovering around, most of them old men reading newspapers.

I received a few stares from bystanders and suddenly felt out of place. We were in the middle of nowhere, a rickety old station smack dap in the middle of farm land. And I was dressed like I was on my way to a business meeting. I adjusted my red tie nervously.

"So, uh, are they gonna meet us here?" I asked Wallace trying to cover my discomfort. Wallace flashed me a sympathetic smile, and grabbed my hand. "No, I'm afraid we're going to have to walk, dear." Of course we were. I let Wallace lead me away from the old station and down what looked like a makeshift path. And so we walked.

We had been walking for a while; if I were dramatic I would say it felt like years. What bothered me the most was we did all this walking, and yet Wallace had informed me we were maybe half way there. Maybe.

All the while Wallace continued telling me about his estranged family. I'd learned about his uncle that moonshines, and the other one likes to carry a gun in order to "keep people on their toes" what did that even mean? Never mind, I really don't want to know. He also mentioned one of his aunts collected skitty hair and knitted sweaters out of it. If that isn't one of the weirdest statements you've ever heard, I don't know what is.

All this information had painted a rather colorful picture in my mind. I totally understand living a little rough. Collecting valuable rocks required me to venture in to caves, where I often cared little for appearance or public opinion. Spelunking I was comfortable with, guns and rednecks, not so much. I know I shouldn't judge other's before I even meet them, but they sounded straight up screwy. I pictured a hillbilly family complete with guns and skitty sweaters. Yet Wallace talked like it was no big deal. Maybe I really was just jumping to conclusions.

"You really shouldn't worry so much." Wallace explained "they're not as bad as you think; I wouldn't expose you to psychos." He stopped and waited for me to catch up to him.

"If your family isn't as bad as they seem, then why do you keep coming up with sneaky ways for me to meet them?"

He smiled. Obviously Wallace found my discomfort with this whole situation amusing. "Well, I know that while you travel and meet a lot of different people, you tend to avoid personal matters."

Damn it that was true, not that I'd ever admit it. When I had found out Wallace had feelings to me I did everything to avoid the subject. Wallace was the one who got an answer out of me.

"Oh whatever," I was tired more than annoyed. "Let's do this."

"I do believe those where your exact words when I confessed to you."

I let out a tired laugh.

I sighed. "Yeah, I'm sure it won't be bad. After all it is only for a weekend."

Wallace cringed.

"What now?" I asked, irritated and exasperated

"Did I say a weekend?" he smiled guiltily "I meant a week."

I groaned.

"Have I mentioned that I love you?"


	3. Chapter 3

Guess who finally figure out how to make author's notes? I'm new to publishing on FF, so please excuse any stupid errors or any other mistakes I might make. Thanks for reading, and I apologize in advance.

* * *

By the time Wallace and I arrived, my annoyance and hostility had melted into exasperation. "Here we are!" Wallace exclaimed gesturing to the estate before me.

Well, there it certainly was. The main house was huge and obviously could fit a large family. It had old country features, like I expected, and seemed to blend perfectly with the vast fields and pastures that stretched out alongside it. Farther away from the main house set a few barns and what looked like a shed. They were in a little rougher shape than the main house and had obviously seen many years of use. Pastures filled with miltanks and tauros lined the property and behaved like boarders.

It was all as I had expected. While the property chimed of charming country culture, there was something desolate about it. It was in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't see another farm around, and the path leading away was faded and hardly reliable. Then, I kid you not; a tumble weed strode in front of the house, as if on cue.

"Well, what do you think?" Wallace asked casting me an excepting look.

"Uh-"I began to mutter a response, only to be cut off by barking coming from one of the barns.

An ecstatic growlithe appeared practically barking its small head off. When it got closer and recognized Wallace it wagged its tail in greeting and proceeded to swarm us. Wallace kneeled down and brushed his hand over the Pokémon's fur. "It's been a while hasn't it?" the growlithe licked Wallace's face in a happy response. I heard footsteps coming from the barn to the left and soon heard a voice resonate.

"Marky, what are you?-"A person soon appeared from where the growlithe, Marky, had come from. He couldn't have been more than eighteen, his short brown hair had shards of straw protruding from it, and his blue eyes were wide in surprise.

Wallace stood up and brushed of his pants, Marky returned to its master's side still bubbling with excitement.

"Hello Tyler, how have you been?" Wallace asked in a friendly voice.

Tyler, having recovered from his initial surprise, flashed Wallace a smile. "Great, been helping dad and Charlie with the farm. Keeping those good for nothin' neighbors from trespassing."

Neighbors? What neighbors? There wasn't another farm for miles!

Wallace let out a light laugh, "I'm sure dad appreciates that. How's school been?"

"the usual," Tyler had shifted his attention over to me. "Schools as borin' as ever." He craned his neck to get a better look of me. Gesturing my way he began, "so, is this the-"

Wallace cut him off "let's, go inside shall we? I've been dying to see my other brothers and sisters."

With that Wallace ushered us towards the house with Tyler leading the way. I was glad we were getting away from the desolate scenery, and the growing awkwardness. As we entered the house Tyler cast a suspicious glance back at me, I braced myself for one awkward meeting.

As it turns out we were the last ones to arrive, which means the entire family had been waiting in the main room and cast curious looks our way as we came in. I don't think I've ever seen so many people in one room. They were everywhere! Some sat on couches and chairs, others stood against the wall, and there were even some forced to sit of the floor. As I examined them, they stared right back. Their eyes flicked from Wallace to me.

I was so focused on the horde of eyes gazing at me; I didn't realize Wallace's mother had made her way over to us. "Mother," Wallace greeted and embraced her.

"Hello dear, how have you been?" she asked in a motherly tone.

"I'm perfect, thank you." Wallace replied in his usual charismatic voice.

She and Wallace turned to me. She clapped her hands together "you must be the one Wallace mentioned on the phone!" She paused for a moment and ran her eyes over me.

If she was trying to subtly size me up, she was doing a poor job. A strange look crossed her face as if she had come to some conclusion. Before I could think about it anymore, she turned towards the crowed in the other room. "Okay everyone, this is Wallace's boyfriend say hi!" She grabbed me by the shoulders and had me face the group of people. "So," she began, not taking her hands off me "what's your name, dear?"

Anxiety clawed its way through me, and the mass stares certainly weren't helping. All I saw was a sea of flannels and overalls. I couldn't believe this was Wallace's family. Speaking of Wallace, he was comfortably leaning against the wall with an amused smile.

I swallowed nervously, feeling out of place once more. In the most calm, and polite voice I could muster I spoke "Hello, I'm Steven Stone, Nice to meet you all."

The response greetings I was awarded with, where on par with greetings given in an AA meeting. People responded in monotone, giving nothing more than a simple "hi". Some didn't even respond and just kept staring at me. I shifted, trying to mask my discomfort. This earned me a chuckle from a rather observant onlooker in the crowed. I swear, if I make it through this, Wallace owes me big time.


End file.
